Polar 78 ECO destined for Skipton and a model life

Print Solutions

A Polar 78 Eco guillotine is making its way to Skipton but this is no ordinary installation. It seems that Nick Metcalfe took on the need to diversify and add value to his business early because his one time commercial printers is now Metcalfe Models and Toys.

‘One day I looked in a gift shop and saw some models and thought that I could do that and so I started designing my own and today we ship 250,000 models a year worldwide,’ said Nick. ‘We continued as a commercial printer at first but in 1999 the models and toys had grown so much that it became the sole focus.

The models are for railway enthusiasts, each one a complex set of printed and die cut sheets which can be assembled to make everything from platforms, footbridges and stations through to hotels, churches and industrial units and with sheets of cobblestones, tarmac and other surfaces as well.

The company prints the models in-house on Heidelberg GTOs and die cuts with a Heidelberg Cylinder and a Platen and it has a bank of laser cutters and a Lamina laminator, too. Now it is replacing a 30 year-old Polar guillotine, a Polar 76EM, which it bought second hand 20 years ago.

‘I have been in printing for 50 years and have always operated with Heidelberg machines and when I have tried other models, I haven’t liked them in the main,’ Nick said. ‘The Polar has served us well but needs updating and we decided to buy new this time round. It will give us a slight increase in size and a definite increase in speed.’

The Polar N78 Eco is an 11th generation model from Polar and features the 5.5 inch monochrome screen. It has a length and depth of 780 mm and clamp opening of up to 120 mm.